Bit.ly 'Bundles' Enables Multiple Link Sharing

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Popular link-shortening service Bit.ly on Monday unveiled a bundling service that allows users to collect together several links and publish them as one abbreviated URL that leads to a landing page containing all the links.

"Every link you add to a bundle will include a rich media preview (courtesy of our friends at embed.ly) and a bit.ly click count, and can be customized with a title and description. Try it out with your favorite video, photo, and any other links you'd like to curate and share," said Matt LeMay, a producer and engineer, in a Bit.ly blog.

Users can add, remove, and rearrange links within a Bit.ly bundle, the company said. To do so, users click the tool's "collapse view" control and drag the links into the order they desire. Links can be rearranged or removed whenever the user likes.

After users have created their bundles, they may add annotations by hovering over a title or description and editing it inline before sharing on sites such as Twitter or Facebook, according to Bit.ly. After posting, the bundle then features a comments section for friends to respond to the collection of links.

Earlier this year, BridgeURL debuted its multi-link sharing service. To share several links, users paste the URLs onto the website, press "Create Link," and then share the resulting URL. However, not all links are shareable via BridgeURL's service.

"Some websites including those like Facebook, MySpace, and Paypal have programmatically blocked the display of their websites via iFrames. As you guessed it, BridgeURL uses iFrames to display links and so unfortunately is blocked from displaying these websites. But be assured, such websites are in the minority and so it will not affect your experience a lot of time," the company said on its website.

In October, Bit.ly secured $10 million in Series B funding from RRE Ventures, AOL Ventures, and other venture capital funds.